Social Media Joins In-Store TV Networks

Premier Retail Networks, Inc. (PRN), a provider of digital place-based media services, and LocaModa, a place-based social media company, have inked an agreement to deliver cross-channel social media on PRN’s Checkout TV Network in supermarkets.

PRN and LocaModa will jointly develop a suite of cross-channel ad units (advertising opportunities) designed to enhance customer engagement at checkout by integrating mobile and Web with digital place-based media. PRN’s advertising solutions now include the ability to display filtered, localized social media components with user-influenced content and trending topics collected via mobile texts, Twitter, and Facebook. The new place-based ad units are measurable and connect PRN’s Checkout TV Network to mobile phones and social networks.

“Today’s audience enjoys media that is socially connected,” said Cathy Stauffer, EVP of market development for San Francisco-based PRN. “LocaModa’s platform helps us create a dialogue between our advertisers and consumers through content displayed on Checkout TV Network screens in supermarkets that can be continued on other platforms, helping to contribute to even deeper brand engagement.”

As an example of the offering, PRN Checkout TV Network social media ad units could be configured to display the most important shopping items according to local customers’ comments. Audiences can participate via mobile phones, Facebook, Twitter, or brand Web sites, and see aggregated results on the Checkout TV Network screens as well as online. The same template could be used to display essential items for vacations, holidays, barbecues, or other related topics. PRN’s Checkout Network delivers more than 51 million commercial viewers across 950 supermarkets.

“For thousands of years we’ve been communicating with whatever tools we have at our disposal,” said Stephen Randall, CEO of Cambridge, Mass.-based LocaModa CEO. “Today, much of our sociability happens across multiple screens. PRN’s Checkout TV Network provides a new and untapped entry point to a social message’s path from brand to consumer.”

Premier Retail Networks, Inc. (PRN) provides digital place-based media services that enable retailers and marketers to reach consumers in more than 10,000 locations in the U.S. and Mexico where they shop, eat, and socialize. Its retail customers include Acme Markets, Albertsons, Associated Food Stores, Carrefour, Costco, Jewel-Osco, Meijer, Pathmark, Sam’s Club, Shaw’s, ShopRite, Star Market, Target, Walmart Stores, and Walmart Mexico.

LocaModa is a place-based social media company, dedicated to helping locations engage customers and brands engage audiences.